The city of Industry is putting up for sale a large parcel of property they own in Chino Hills, Calif. May 5, 2015. The working cattle ranch, with a reservoir, called Tres Hermanos is located east of Diamond Bar on Grand Avenue. (Photo by Leo Jarzomb/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

Stymied in their efforts to find out what happened to a $20 million loan to a developer interested in building a solar farm on city-owned land, officials in the City of Industry are pursuing a legal maneuver to force the company to turn over its records.

The City Council on Tuesday authorized its city attorney to issue a legislative subpoena to the San Gabriel Valley Water and Power company that demands all of the studies, reports and analyses paid for by Industry. Under California law, a city can issue a subpoena requiring testimony or the production of documents if it’s relevant to a matter before the City Council.

“We haven’t got the documents that under the lease agreement we believe we’re entitled to receive,” said Jamie Casso, Industry’s city attorney. “We have been requesting those documents for some time.”

Legislative subpoenas are rare, acknowledged Casso, who was brought in during reform efforts in Bell. That city previously used a legislative subpoena to force the release of records from Robert Rizzo, the Bell administrator sentenced to 12 years in prison on corruption charges.

The subpoena issued Tuesday orders a representative of SGVWP to appear before the Industry City Council meeting on June 14 unless the company turns over all of the requested documents, which include emails, feasibility studies, invoices, ledgers and details about payments made to 31 other entities. If the company doesn’t comply, the city attorney can seek a court order.

The Tres Hermanos saga has been a political roller-coaster. Industry put its full support behind the project with few questions asked. The city increased the maximum it would loan to the developer from $5 million to $20 million in less than a year. It also set aside $100 million to secure the land.

Industry ended up landing the property at a $60 million discount after getting support from Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Lawsuits have since blocked the sale.

Industry quietly entered into a lease agreement with SGVWP during a closed-door meeting in late 2016. The plan was to build a 450-megawatt solar farm, the largest of its type in Los Angeles County. The power generated theoretically could support as much as 10 percent of the need in Los Angeles, according to experts.

The project, though, ran into trouble almost immediately.

Because they did not vote on the matter in public, officials in Chino Hills and Diamond Bar — where the old ranch land known as Tres Hermanos is situated — didn’t know about Industry’s plans for more than a year. Industry’s City Council ratified the lease and several amendments in October after the details were disclosed first by the Southern California News Group. The City Council had spent $14 million already.

Chino Hills and Diamond subsequently filed three separate lawsuits against Industry, accusing the city of withholding public records, violating environmental laws and not following the proper protocol for disposing of former redevelopment property. Tres Hermanos has been owned by Industry since the 1970s and has been used only as ranch land.

Industry needs the documents from SGVWP to respond to the lawsuits filed by Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. Those cities have been requesting records for more than a year, according to the suit.

“Obviously, having those documents will assist us in addressing the allegations in the public records lawsuit that Chino Hills and Diamond Bar have filed against the city,” Casso said.

Over the past two years, Industry has declined to turn over studies and reports described in invoices submitted by SGVWP, as city officials at the time said those records were not in their possession. SGVWP’s invoices suggest studies should exist related to how at-risk owls might affect the placement of solar panels and how the developer would overcome the ranch’s hillsides.

None of those records has ever been released. Industry required so few records from SGVWP that City Manager Paul Philips previously said he had no idea who the members were behind the LLC. The city had never requested details about the company’s ownership, but a spokeswoman said it would request more information in the future.

Philips was fired earlier this year, and since then a new political majority on the City Council has refused to pay invoices submitted by the company. All of the lead figures behind the solar farm have resigned or been fired.

Earlier this month, Councilman Newell Ruggles said the City Council would not authorize any further payments until the records were surrendered.

“I’d like to see what we got for our $20 million first,” he said.

Industry’s city controller has raised concerns about the invoices submitted by SGVWP. An investigaton by the Southern California News Group found a series of invoices submitted on the letterhead of a law firm that stopped operating before any of the alleged work took place. The invoices were later updated to reflect a different company, and Industry officials determined the incorrect letterhead was used for more than a year.

If Industry backs out of the lease, the city could lose all of its investment. An amendment approved by the City Council only requires SGVWP to pay back the loans once the first phase of the solar project commences.

Jason Henry is an investigative reporter with the Southern California News Group. Raised in Ohio, Jason began his career at a suburban daily near Cleveland before moving to California in 2013. He is a self-identified technophile, data nerd and wannabe drone pilot.